


Karma Dolls

by Melkur_Mistress



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Humor, Lighthearted, Missy's TCE, a fun story, but people get shrunk, twissy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-21 23:59:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15569232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melkur_Mistress/pseuds/Melkur_Mistress
Summary: A trip out to show Missy how much fun it is being the good guys - inevitably, they are instantly chained up in a cell and charged as spies. Missy is bored, so gets them out in a more creative way. Is it really a bad thing to shrink the bad guys if you don't have it set to kill?A lighthearted story with 12, Missy, Bill and Nardole.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure how long this will be, but likely 4 chapters - i've written the first two, so will get them both up.

The Doctor focused his eyes in the dim lighting of the room they had been imprisoned in for the past four hours. He cast his gaze around the stone clad walls - no windows, the only light coming in from the 3 small bars in the door. Too small for any of them to fit through even if he did have his sonic.

They were each chained by one wrist to the walls, but the chains were long enough to allow them some degree of comfort to adjust their positions. Probably not the reason for the design, but he was glad that things hadn't taken a worse turn….yet. Coming to the conclusion that they were well and truly trapped, he turned his attention to his fellow prisoners.

Bill looked scared, and he felt a sense of regret for putting her in the situation, but she knew it wasn't always going to be a walk in the park, and the excitement of travelling won out for her. She pushed any concerns away when he assured of the peaceful population of the planet and described the diamond waterfalls and lakes sparkling with the bed of bright gems that lined their floors. When they arrived, they found the planet a far cry from his last visit - the population practically enslaved and the previous rulers overthrown. He simply wasn't to know that, looking up these things before arriving took half the fun out of it.

Nardole was in the TARDIS, unaware of their predicament, and Missy….

"Doctor,” she said, sounding incredibly bored. “When are you going to DO something? Because if your plan is to just sit here, then let _me_ handle this.”

Missy sat casually on the stone ground as if it were cushioned and not so uncomfortable that it hurt if they didn’t shift position constantly. Her back against the wall, she watched him with an expression that suggested that her boredom threshold was becoming breached.

“Just, the point of this whole little trip, was to show me how much fun it is to be the good guys, and have to say, _really_ not living up to your enthusiasm right now. So what’s your plan? Are you waiting for the egg to bust us out?”

“Ah, well, no, he doesn’t know about our predicament and I don’t have a plan as such - winging it usually works when things take an unexpected turn... well, reasonably well. We should see what information we can get out of the guards when they come back,” he said.

“When they come back...to probably kill us all?” Missy asked brightly.

Bill’s eyes widened as she looked from Missy to the Doctor, “is she exaggerating? Are they going to kill us?”

“No! Very probably not, we will break out of here with no violence, find out what’s going on here that caused us to be arrested on sight, and see if there’s anything we can fix about this world!” he said with a smile.

Missy smiled at her, as Bill’s worried gaze returned to her, “that sounds like so much fun, doesn't it dear? We can wait in here for _ages_ , then hope we can talk our way out and go fix their entire society - if they don't kill us all first... _or_ , I could get us out right now.”

“You can?” Bill asked.

“Of course I can, escaping is a speciality of mine,”

“But, you’ve not escaped from the vault, for...well, a lot of years?” Bill said.

Missy rolled her eyes, “because I _want_ to be there. I don’t, want to be _here_.”

“Doctor, see that hole over there? The one that our potential next meal keeps running in and out?” Missy said.

“Meal?” Bill asked in confusion.

“She means the rat,” the Doctor replied.

Bill stared at him in horror, “no, no i’m not eating a rat. We need to listen to her plan, we need to get out of here!”

“Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted,” Missy continued, casting an admonishing glance at Bill. “If I had my Tissue Compression Eliminator, I could shrink us all, and we could just crawl right out through there, back to the TARDIS and have tea before dark.”

“Your Tissue Compression Eliminator was a dangerous weapon Missy, you usually killed the people you shrunk, and might I remind you of the time you accidentally shrunk yourself?” the Doctor said.

Missy shook her head and stared at him incredulously, “did you think I only had a shrink and kill setting? Honestly Doctor i’m insulted. I can easily select it to shrink us all without any damage.”

“If that's the case why did you always kill with it?”

“Because it was _amusing_ , leaving them for people to find, and…” she paused, noticing the Doctors disapproving glare. “When I was evil. Of course, I don’t find it at all amusing anymore, not even a little bit funny.”

Bill watched Missy with a mixture of confusion and fascination, at the way her eyes lit up as she talked about shrinking people, telling Bill that she _did_ find it quite funny, despite her declaration that she didn’t. Missy was terrifying and enthralling to Bill, and that was a scary combination at times.

“So, you can shrink people? Can you un-shrink us too?” Bill asked.

“Bill, it’s not something to play around with, and besides, she doesn't have a device on her to do that with. I checked, she’s not armed in any way.”

Missy leaned her head back against the wall and smirked before turning her head to the Doctor, watching as he tried to convince himself that she hadn't smuggled a weapon on their trip.

“I scanned her for weapons, devices,  blades, and In case she was shielding anything, I searched her,” he said.

“That bit was fun,” Missy said as she winked at Bill.

“She’s unarmed and there's nothing here to build a device with, so let’s strop wasting time and let me think of our next move,” he said.

Missy watched Bill until, feeling her gaze on her, Bill eventually looked up to meet Missy’s eyes. The smile Missy cast her way gave her a chill that she couldn’t quite find the reason for. She looked away, focusing on the hole that Missy had drawn her attention to, deciding to watch for the rat and be ready to kick it out of the way if it tried to bite her.

Two hours later, and several stories about the Doctor shared by Missy, each of which he glared at her for relating, they heard a key turn in the lock outside the door.

Two guards entered the room, closing the door firmly behind them and stood, staring hard at them. Bill returned her attention to the Doctor, hoping he actually did have some kind of plan forming.

“This planet is shielded, outsiders do not come in. Ever. A trial has been conducted and you have all been found to be spies.”

“It’s common courtesy to let us appear at our own trial, is it not?” the Doctor asked. “Surely we have a right to defend ourselves.”

“You are spies, and will be treated accordingly. You will answer our questions, all of our questions, and we _may_ let you live.”

Missy sighed with deliberate exaggerated effect, “yes, we’re all very scared now, so let’s get on with it. We’ve been here for _hours_ , and if your tactic is to bore us to death then it’s working.”

The guard crossed the room quickly, stooping down to grab her roughly grab her shoulders and pull her to her feet, she winced at the hard wrench on her wrist as the chain was stretched to it’s maximum length.

Staring hard into her eyes, his grip on her shoulders dug painfully into her flesh, even through her jacket, as he shook her suddenly and hard, “you will address us with respect and you will cooperate fully or you will be tortured.”

“Oh, now _there’s_ an unexpected twist,” she said sarcastically.

Bill’s eyes widened in fear at how casually Missy was handling the situation, and she felt her heart racing at the way that Missy was completed unaffected by the danger.

“She meant no disrespect,” the Doctor said, in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

“I did actually,” Missy said. “I meant total and utter disrespect, because this is the most boring arrest i've ever experienced!”

“Missy!” Bill said, quite scared by that point.

“Well, that one over there,” she said, raising her arm as far as she could under his bruising grip, to gesture toward Bill. “Is a human. She will just break in seconds and where's the fun in that? _We_ though, me and him, are Time Lord’s. Much more fun to torture one of us. He’s not going to tell you anything useful and will just try to appeal to your better nature, which; _one_ isn't going to work because you probably don't have one, _not that i’m judging of course_ , and _two_ , all that talk about being nice will get boring, trust me. So clearly i'm the best candidate - i’ll even scream if you like, what do you say?”

Bill stared at her in shock, “you’re volunteering to be tortured??”

The Doctor’s focus was entirely on Missy as he watched her with a deep concern, “Missy, we stay together, and we find a solution to this.”

“Which is getting us nowhere my dearest. Now you babysit your pet and let me do the hard work,” she said winking at him.

The guard spun her around and cuffed her hands behind her back, and used one hand to grab her arm and the other to grab a fistful of her hair as he marched her to the door.

“Finally!” she said.

Bill stared at the Doctor, her eyes wide with fear, “what are they gonna do to her? We have to help her!”

The Doctor, appearing more annoyed than concerned shook his head dismissively, as Missy was pushed roughly through the door.

The door slammed closed leaving Bill and the Doctor in the room, the sound of Bill’s panicked breath filling the room.

“Bill, she’ll be fine, i’m more concerned about what she’s planning,” he said, resting back against the wall with a sigh.

“But, they’re going to torture her Doctor, we have to help her!”

“Bill, this is a usual boring Monday night for her, believe me, her well being is the least of my concerns right now, we on the other hand, are sitting ducks.”


	2. Chapter 2

Bill had finally fallen asleep, so the Doctor, with little other clues to the passing of time, assumed that several hours had passed when he heard a key turn in the lock once again.

He watched in anticipation, hearing Bill rouse at the sound breaking the quiet of the cell. When the door was pushed wide open, he was not surprised, but found himself also relieved more than he expected to be, when Missy walked through the open door, her arm raised in triumph as she dangled the cell key from her fingertips.

“Time to leave!” she announced cheerfully, pulling the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver out of her pocket and tossing it to him.

He released himself, then immediately crossed the room to release Bill before returning his attention to Missy. He stood in front of her, regarding her carefully before raising a hand to her cheek. She froze as the backs of his fingers very lightly traced a large bruise colouring her skin. He frowned in concern at a cut on her lip, and glanced her over before looking into her eyes with a silent assurance of his care for her.

“It's nothing. Few slight glitches to my plan, they really weren’t very nice people to treat a lady like this, but hey, karma’s a bitch. Anyway! Let's head back, can you call ahead and get Nardole to put the tea on?”

"Are you...ok?" Bill asked hesitantly.

Missy turned to her and smiled, " _aww,_  your pet was all worried about me, how sweet!"

Bill stepped closer to her, "yeah, I was. I'm not apologising for that."

Missy raised an eyebrow and appeared impressed, "well, I think you're a keeper!"

She gave Bill a wink, and then turned on her heel abruptly and headed straight out through the open doorway.

The Doctor waited, ensuring Bill was ahead of him before leaving the room. He followed Missy in silence, gathering his thoughts until they rounded the corner and made their way up a staircase, and it became clear that Missy had had time to map out the exit.

“These people are hilariously scared by advanced technology Doctor, “ she casually said over her shoulder as she walked along. “I showed them a few simple parlour tricks once they realised their violent thug routine was boring me, and they were freaked out enough just by those.”

“Karma Missy,” the Doctor said gravely. “What was theirs?”

Missy ignored him and continued up the steps until the Doctor increased his pace, moving ahead of Bill as he and caught up with her, taking her arm with a measured firmness, and stopping her ascent.

She turned to face him, struck momentarily by their close proximity on the narrow staircase, “Doctor, we don't have time to stop and chat right now.”

“What did you do to them?” he asked.

She averted her eyes from his, and shook her head, “we need to keep going before the rest of them catch up with us. They’re going to be quite cross when they find us gone.”

“And more so when they find the bodies of the other guards - unless you didn't leave anything for then to find,” he said, staring hard at her.

She flitted her eyes to his and hated the disappointment and accusation she saw aimed at her.

“Why assume I killed them? I may have just locked them in a cupboard and told them i’ll let them out once they decide to play nicely!”

“Missy, even if they hurt you - you don't have the right to kill them,” he said. "Sometimes I wonder if there's any point to the years i've spent working on this with you."

“Doctor!” she exclaimed, exasperated, staring at him in frustration. “I _didn't_ kill them! And _you_ , are an idiot to jump to that conclusion.”

“Then where are they?! If you didn't kill them, where are they?” he said, his voice raising in anger.

“IN. MY. POCKET!” she shouted, firmly punctuating each word.

“Your...what?” he asked, confused. 

“Sorry, but do you have _people_ in your _pocket_?!” Bill asked.

Missy smirked, “well _unconscious_  people. They were awake, but kept kicking me, and trying to climb out, and this jacket has an exquisite lining that I don’t want them ripping, so I put them to sleep, temporarily of course, out of respect for my tailoring.”

The Doctor closed his eyes and sighed, then opened them, regarding her cautiously.

“ _Where_ , did you get a TCE Missy? I searched you - did you make one up here somehow??”

“No, no, Doctor. You're just not very observant - maybe you should take a course in being a jailer - i know you’ve been doing it for decades now, but really, a refresher on hidden weaponry would probably be quite useful for you,” she smirked.

“I’m not your jailer Missy,” he said quietly, watching her with concern. “Our relationship could never be some kind of judicial arrangement. I’m your _friend_ , I care about you, and I just want to help you. Everything you’ve done, it cant be erased, but you can be better - you know, as well as I do, how much you've changed. This isn't the path to go down - please give me the TCE, If this goes too far and you kill someone, you will find it hard to come back from that now.”

He raised his hand and wiped at a tear that escaped as she took a deep breath, meeting his eyes.

Missy inched back, regretfully putting some space between her and the Doctor, causing his hand to drop from her face and she reached into her hair.

Bill watched the entire scene in confusion, even as Missy pulled a hair pin out and held it out toward the Doctor. He took it carefully, as if it were a bomb about to go off, and took her hand in his, inching forward and placing a kiss on her forehead as he whispered his thanks to her.

“Doctor, that’s a...hair pin,” Bill said.

“No, it’s not,” he said simply.

He placed it in an inside pocket and turned back to Missy, “what about the...um”

“Little torturers in my pocket?”

“Yes, those. Can I see them?” he asked, cautiously.

Missy shrugged and pulled out what looked to Bill like a doll, followed by another as she kept hold of one, while the Doctor inspected the other and used his sonic to scan it.

“How long have you had this?” he asked, satisfied that the miniature person was indeed unconscious but still very much alive.

“I always have, _sorry_ , that wasn't exactly playing by the rules was it? But I have had time to work on it, refine it. I can shrink a person without killing them, reverse it too, but I only have a 30 minute delay on the reversal action, so we will need to be ready to run when we do that.”

“Can I touch one of them?” Bill asked suddenly.

The Doctor and Missy turned to her, the Doctor appearing surprised at her curiosity.

Missy laughed, “sure, you can have this one if you like, he should be asleep for a while, but if he wakes early, he bites, so watch out for the tiny teeth.”

Missy tossed the doll to Bill, who only just managed to catch it, the Doctor casting Missy a glare. Bill initially held it by her finger tips at arms length, completely fascinated and disgusted by the shrunken person as she stared at it.

“You need to leave them somewhere - you can’t keep them in your pocket,” the Doctor said.

“Oh, thought about that - see? I’m not being at all evil here - i’m even considering keeping the tiny little thugs alive! There’s a control room up there - it’s not used at night, so if we sit them in the chairs then the day shift will find them right before they grow back to normal - it’ll be hilarious, shame we wont be here to watch.”

“And why not?” the Doctor asked.

“Oh no, Doctor, you don’t still have this idea to fix the draconian mess this society has turned into since your last visit? We are minutes away from getting out of here - and the death count is zero, so I think that makes for a very successful trip out, don't you?”

“The government is the problem - they have disposed of the previous leaders, and replaced them with ruthless rulers. We need to find a way to peacefully overthrow them,” the Doctor said,

Missy sighed, “ok, but _then_ can we go home for tea?”

As Missy turned and began to continue up the stairs, Bill squeezed past the Doctor and caught up with her, holding out the doll.

"Er, here, can you take this?" she asked.

"Of course my dear, and thank you for playing nicely with my toys," she said brightly, as she suddenly put her arm around Bill's shoulders and gave her a tight squeeze. Missy released her and continued up the stairs, looking back over shoulder at the Doctor, "see, I'm sharing _and_ being _nice,_ and there's you just assuming i'm killing everyone. You really have some making up to do Doctor - i'll be looking forward to that."

The Doctor couldn't help but smile at her as she walked up the stairs, her skirts gathered in her hand. Despite their predicament, it felt good to be out of the vault with her - no matter what happened between them, something always felt missing when they were not together. Sometimes that had been an entire lifetime, other times mere days, but whatever length of time passed, they drew back together instantly and being in each other's presence just felt right. 

They reached the top of the stairs and the Doctor paused, gesturing for them all to be quiet.

“Someone’s in there,” he whispered, pulling his sonic screwdriver from his pocket.

Missy eyed him incredulously, and whispered, “use my TCE, or at least give me the screwdriver. I’m _really_ unarmed this time. _”_

“Good! I assume you haven't road tested the reversal process, so you can’t know it’s going to work.”

“And?” she whispered back, annoyed. “What’s so wrong? These aren’t fluffy bunnies Doctor, they are officially the bad guys - what’s the problem with shrinking them? They’re not dead, just too small to be a problem. So problem solved! Right?!”

“She...actually does has a point there Doctor,” Bill whispered.

The Doctor paused and considered them both for a moment, "how sure are you that you can safely reverse this?”

“99%..well 86 maybe,” Missy said with a shrug, "a definite 80."

He produced Missy’s TCE from his inside pocket and regarded it for a moment before taking his sonic in his other hand and pressing the button, before passing the TCE back to her.

“You better not have broken it,” she whispered.

“No, just the kill function. But only use it if you really have to - we can't have all these miniaturised people running about, we’ll never find them again and I don’t want to stuff my pockets with them.”

Missy giggled at the mental image, “fine, i'll use it sparingly, scouts honour.”

The Doctor pushed open the door slowly and stepped into the room, Missy followed, her TCE raised, earning her a look of disapproval from the Doctor, but she merely shrugged, and continued.

Suddenly there was movement and Missy reacted fast, stepping forward, her arm outstretched and her TCE aimed steadily, “say something nice.”

“Missy no!” the Doctor shouted, his hand covering hers, and attempting to stop her firing as he met Nardole's eyes in shock.

Nardole raised his hands and looked positively terrified as he stood frozen in terror, “don't let her shoot me! Why is she armed? You’re giving her weapons now? Why are you giving her weapons?”

Missy lowered her TCE and placed it carefully back in her hair, taking time to tidy her hair as she found a nearby desk to lean on casually.

“It’s not set to kill, I disabled that function,” the Doctor said.

“Oh well, if it’s not at a lethal setting, then what’s a bit of intense pain?” Nardole said.

“That's not what it does...actually I don't know if it hurts - Missy did it hurt when you shrunk yourself?”

“It SHRINKS people?” Nardole exclaimed.

Missy laughed at his reaction as she leaned on the desk, her compact in her hand as she carefully applied her lipstick.

“Well, yes, but it doesn't kill them now. Missy only set it to shrink them - I say that’s excellent progress!” the Doctor said with a smile.

"Thank you dearest," she said with a proud smile as she snapped her compact closed. “It doesn’t hurt, just feels sorta like bad vertigo until you realise what’s happened. Going back the other way is more unpleasant,” Missy said with a shudder.

"I remember," the Doctor said, as he looked at her, his expression changing to one of regret. 

Bill watched them, the Doctor seeming saddened momentarily, and Missy responding by averting her gaze to the floor. The two of them were hard to read at times, but it was clear to her that they had a very long and complicated history. 

"What did you think Doctor? When you stood there watching, when I reached for you and you didn't do a thing to save me?" she asked, sounding more curious than anything else and she met his eyes.

"You've always been about theatrics Missy, I didn't think you would actually die."

"Oh, but you did there, just for a moment. I saw it in your eyes. The internal battle you were having, that flicker of pain. You believed it for a while, didn't you?"

"Yes, because until I see you again I can never really know. You could be cruel Missy."

"You're not a saint Doctor," she said.

"I don't claim to be. I just want us to be...real. No games."

"Games are fun," she said as she stepped closer to him, leaving them inches apart.

"Some are, but not games that leaving me thinking i've lost you forever. I didn't say we couldn't play, we just need to play...better," he said, completely forgetting that Bill and Nardole were watching, as Missy quickly closed the last distance between them, placing a soft kiss on his lips.

His eyes closed, and he returned her kiss, until the moment was broken by Bill as a doll climbed out of Missy's pocket and fell to the floor.

"That thing's moving!" Bill said.

Nardole ignored the doll and stared at the Doctor, "stop giving her weapons and _please_ refrain from kissing her!"

Missy laughed before turning her attention to the movement in her pocket. She reached in pulling out the other doll and dropping it to the floor.

The dolls had both came to life, scrambling around on the floor until they stood up, backing up against a chair leg and regarding them all, casting Missy a look of complete fear.

“Doctor!" she exclaimed, with a clap of her hands. "I’ve just figured out how we can get home for tea, _and_ do that whole saving all the people thing that you will be grumpy for months about if we leave without doing. And, guess what?” she looked at them expectantly before rolling her eyes. “A little enthusiasm would be good about now...”

Nardole clapped and looked at her hopefully, “hooray, let's hope it doesn’t involve killing anyone.”

“Even better!” Missy said, her excitement building by the second. “It involves costumes and theatrics!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of Twissy fluffiness here.

The two minature bad guys had been restrained with some pieces of string found in the Doctor’s pocket. Their arms were tied behind their backs and Missy had emptied out the contents of a small waste paper bin and dropped them inside. She did contemplate briefly whether to just drop them in with the screwed up balls of paper and half eaten fruit that had been discarded there, but giving them hiding places would only mean they would start biting when they tried to take them out. So instead they were left sitting in the empty plastic bin, their backs against one edge as one examined their plastic prison in futile for signs of potential escape. The other had fainted at the sight of what they assumed to be giants with magical powers, and sat very still, his head slumped forwards.

Bill sat perched on the edge of a nearby console, unable to take her eyes off of the shrunken people, but trying not to be too obvious about her fascination. It was one of the most bizarre things she had seen - and her list of bizarre things was growing by the day at this point. The way they moved around made her think of animated toys, and she wondered if she would ever again be able to walk through a toy aisle in a shop, past dolls and action figures without checking to see if they were moving.

Bill half listened to the conversation around her as she edged closer - trying to see if the unconscious doll like person was still breathing. Not certain, she tentatively reached her hand inside the tub, intending to nudge him, but quickly retracted her hand, deciding against it. She glanced around, spotting an instrument on the desk which was of similar size and appearance to a pencil, picking it up, she reached inside and very slowly moved it towards the occupants. The one who was awake put his hands over his face in fear, and remained quiet, while she edged closer.

Glancing around, she could see that the Doctor, Missy and Nardole were all occupied, so she took a deep breath and prodded the slumped form of the miniature guard. 

He woke with a start, screamed and Bill instantly dropped the stick, jumping back off the desk.

Missy walked over and regarded her with surprise and a hint of appreciation, "did you just poke the helpless restrained shrunken thug, with a stick?"

"I...I wasn't trying to...I mean, I did, _but_..."

Missy stood in front of her and smiled in approval, "well now this is an unexpected surprise, you might just be my new favourite of all the Doctor's pets!"

Bill stared back at her completely unsure how to respond.

"Thanks," said Nardole sarcastically. "I mean I only bring you sweets!"

"Please darlings, don't fight, you're both good pets," she said, before breaking into laughter.

The Doctor shook his head at their banter.

“The rota on the wall says we have four hours until the staff come in - we need to get your plan in motion fast,” the Doctor said.

Nardole looked instantly alarmed, pointing at Missy in distaste, “We’re going with her plan without knowing what it is. She hasn’t even told us yet - don’t you want to..you know, hear it first?”

The Doctor hesitated and looked from Nardole to Missy, “we are pressed for time - can you do this without causing any harm?”

Missy frowned, “well that very much depends on your definition of the word now, doesn’t it. Now, first things first, we need robes - something majestic, i’m seeing us in flowing red and gold, not sure if tiara’s will be a touch too far...then we need a backdrop, and one of us needs to build a tiny gallows - anyone happen to be skilled at making a noose scaled to size?”

They each stared at her in disbelief, silent until Nardole finally spoke.

“Yeah, i’m not wearing a tiara,” he said.

“Really?” Missy replied with a tinge of disappointment. “But I have one with rubies, I think you could really work it.”

"Tiara's are scratchy!" he replied. "Do you have a nice headdress instead - we could put rubies in that?

"Could we _focus_ please?!" the Doctor said. “We don’t have time for all this, and we are _not_  executing anyone with a noose!”

“Oh Doctor you do have to go and spoil things, don’t you," Missy said, rolling her eyes. "I can fake their deaths, but if you let them hear that, they won’t give realistic screams of terror - and we need to terrify them when we go live with our demonstration of frightening magical shrinking powers that will make the bad guys run for the hills!”

“You can’t do all that stage setting and costume making when we only have 4 hours!” Nardole exclaimed.

“Of course I can, I have a...hold on. Everyone turn around and close your eyes,” she paused, watching as the Doctor sighed and gestured to Bill and Nardole that it was ok to do what she said.

“Going to need you to put your hands over your ears as well...and hum..or sing.”

The Doctor turned back around and gave her an impatient look.

“Oh ok, just don’t look,” she said, waving her hand dismissively.

The Doctor humoured her and turned back, and was not remotely surprised when the sound of a TARDIS materialising filled the room.

“Can we look now, or do we all have to pretend you don’t have a TARDIS in the room?” the Doctor said.

“Ok, just give me a minute, then turn around and I will have everything ready,” she said.

The Doctor spun around quickly at the sound of a door closing and de-materialisation starting.

Nardole and Bill turned around and watched as the faint image of a cabinet disappeared from view.

“Doctor,” asked Bill. “Did she just leave?”

“It would appear so,” he said.

“Aren’t you worried? I mean what if she goes off to wipe out half the universe?? And where did she get a TARDIS from?” Bill said.

“Well, I always thought that decorative wall she made in the vault was suspicious,” Nardole said. “Didn’t listen though, did you Doctor. No, just Nardole being paranoid about Missy again, but she just left. _In a TARDIS!_ ”

“Look i’m sure she’s coming right back, let’s get on with setting up what we can until she gets back,” the Doctor said.

“What exactly do we do if she _doesn’t_ come back?” Nardole asked.

“She will, but if she doesn’t that’s my concern,” he paused, smiling as he turned around to meet the sound in the corner of the room. “Ah - there, see? I told you. She didn’t run.”

They watched as Missy’s TARDIS took on the appearance this time of a floor to ceiling column, blending immediately in as part of the room structure.

“You should get her to show you how to do that Doctor, that _is_ pretty cool,” Nardole said, pausing when he caught the look of disapproval the Doctor cast him. “Sorry, just saying that’s handy, but yours is great too!”

Missy’s doors flung open and she stepped out, her arms thrust in the air as she turned quickly around, showing off a deep red robe which was embroidered delicately with what appeared to be gold thread.

“Don’t worry, I have one for each of you, so we can _all_ play!” she winked at the Doctor. “See, i’m all about sharing today...is it still today?”

“Yes, it is - did you just have that laying around?” the Doctor asked. 

“No, not really - had to make a few stops, but have everything we need, so now we can put on quite the show!” she smiled.

She handed out accessories, and carefully placed hidden devices around the room as the other three examined the items she expected them to wear.

“Well, come on then, there’s no harm being done, so let’s change,” the Doctor said.

He slipped the robe on, and walked over to Missy while Bill and Nardole dressed - Nardole attempting to help Bill with a hair accessory that neither of them quite knew what to do with.

She looked up and smiled at him as he stood beside her, turning to face him and taking hold of the edges of his robe, adjusting it slightly, and smoothing it out.

“Where did you go?” he asked.

“Just shopping,” she said, as she stood back slightly to look him over. “You suit that look, you should wear gold thread more often.”

“Missy,” he said, taking hold of her hand. “How long were you gone for? Have you done this before?”

“Let’s not ruin the pre show vibe Doctor. I have never called my TARDIS before, so don’t start thinking I’ve been leaving the vault - I haven’t. I _could_ , and not just via my TARDIS or through the door - but I _don’t_. So don’t question my commitment - I admit I was getting a little over excited, but I came right back here, I didn’t run out on you.”

“Straight back or the scenic route?” he asked.

She smiled, and squeezed his hand, “scenic, but see - honesty as well as sharing, I must have enough brownie points for a Jacuzzi when we get back.”

“Just tell me if you did anything we need to talk about,” he asked her, his eyes looking into hers searchingly.

Missy sighed and gave him an impatient look.

“I was away for three months. I went shopping - three different places, different times. I had dinner in my favourite restaurants and hypnotised my way out of paying. I spent some time in my TARDIS, swam in my pool every day, then I came home,” she said. “See, just a little theft, but nothing sinister.”

“Home? You went home? Where is that?” he asked.

She looked at him confused, “Home - to you.”

He felt a surge of warmth within his hearts at the casual way she had responded. He took the briefest of moments to look at her, and consider how right she was. Coming home was the very best way to describe how they each felt whenever they reunited. He smiled and slipped his other hand around the back of her neck, inching her closer until his lips brushed against hers. He placed a soft kiss, and dropped his hands, turning his attention back to the stage they had now set. Her eyes closed at the feel of his lips against hers, and the world around her became still and silent. It took her a moment to regain her senses and realise someone had asked her a question.

“Trigger mechanism, good question Bill,” the Doctor said, saving Missy from having to admit that she had been thrown by his kiss.

“Yes,” she smiled, switching back to pre show mode. “We do indeed need a trigger, and I have it right here in my pocket.”

“Does it...blow anything up?” Nardole asked with great hesitation.

“It could, but I only built that option in as an emergency protocol,” she said, slipping her hand behind her back and crossing her fingers as she looked at the Doctor. “I won’t use it unless it’s really needed, and we can have some kind of vote or something, you know something nice and time wasting to distract you all while I go and activate the bomb setting.”

She paused and gasped in exaggerated shock, “oh dear, did I say that out loud? Ooops.”

The Doctor shook his head and cast her an admonishing glance. 

She took in the nervous expressions of Bill an Nardole and couldn't help laughing. They really were very easy to unsettle, but she had to admit they now really looked the part in their decorative robes. 

“Come on then," she said, with a dramatic wave of her hand. "Let’s get this show on the road!”  
  
  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

The Doctor wanted to feel annoyed at the theatrics - it wasn't his style - well not usually, not  _ often _ anyway. Looking at Missy, doing a final costume check, adjusting Bill and Nardole’s outfits and testing the many hidden devices she had planted around the room, he couldn’t help but smile. She really was in her element - he wasn't completely happy with some of the details, but morality debates aside, as plans went, it really was more fun than sinister.

Missy spun around and clapped her hands as she faced them all. “Right! Now there will be minor controlled explosions around the room - flashing lights and loud noises,... _don't_ look surprised, play along and pretend to be all powerful beings that can shrink people using your incredible superpowers! Any questions?”

Nardole hesitantly raised his hand.

“Questions that are not about extra rubies for your headdress,” she added.

Nardole lowered his hand disappointed.

“So this is like a play? Like we're acting?” Bill asked.

“Yes, that’s exactly it. If it looks right, the rest just falls into place,” Missy said.

“So, what about a script? What do we do?” Bill asked.

“Improvisation! You three mostly stand there and look threatening….OH! We could do some chanting! I love a bit of chanting, it really freaks people out,” she chuckled.

“Erm...I don't know how to chant...can you use your TARDIS to sort a script out and pop back again?” Bill asked hopefully.

The Doctor frowned at Bill and she shrugged, “well she did come back just now, and it gives us extra time!”

“A TARDIS is a powerful time and space vessel, it should not be used for gaining extra time to gather accessories and put on a show!” the Doctor exclaimed.

Missy shrugged, “well maybe not _yours,_ she’s forgotten how to have fun. I could remind her though.”

“You’re not going any further than basic maintenance,” he said.

“Oh yes Doctor, because I can’t possibly do a thing to get past your super duper bio locks now can I?” she said with a laugh.

“Err...Doctor, is she joking, or can she actually just take the bio lock off?” Nardole whispered nervously.

Missy smiled innocently at the Doctor and he shook his head, realising they needed to focus on what they were doing.

Look, we  _ do  _ have a population to save here,” he said.

“Fine, no more prep then, now let’s  _ really _ have some fun,” Missy said instantly looking excited.

 

The stage was set, and Missy made a broadcast to the rulers of the planet. Bill and Nardole mostly stood in the background, chanting completely out of sync with each other. Missy said it was very simple to sound terrifying - they just had to talk backwards. Simple until they tried to both do it at the same time, and eventually Missy gave them one line each, and told them to just speak them at the same time. 

Bill held her hands in the air, glancing at Nardole who had mirrored her pose, and talked slowly, “enihsnus no gniklaw m'i.”

Nardole spoke equally as slowly, concentrating hard, “doog leef ti t'nod dna ,haey ho!”

The Doctor had to admit it did help set the scene, but he tensed when she put the tiny wooden gallows she had built, in front of her. He had to be ready with a contingency plan that wouldn't blow the whole operation if she went too far. Scaring them was bad enough but he wouldn’t allow her to progress to torture or actually killing them. 

The planets rulers soon picked up their broadcast, and watched as Missy stood back, giving them a chance to absorb the atmosphere and enjoy the chanting. Once she could see that the faces on the screen were beginning to look worried, she picked up he gallows and held it out to the camera.

“We, are the all powerful, high council of the Cult of Ssertsim! We demand that you leave this world and return it to it’s rightful owners. We demand to see the leader of your false idols in person! All those denying our devastating power will be SHRUNK TO DEATH!” 

Her words were spoken forcefully and unnerved Bill and Nardole that they each had to start again at the beginning of their respective backwards sentences. She ended her speech by giving an incredibly chilling and evil laugh.

The Doctor stepped onto the stage, holding one of the shrunken guards out to the camera. The guard screamed in terror and the Doctor hoped they didn't end up dying of fright. He willed the ruler to just turn around and leave and not actually do what Missy had demanded, but as the officials on the other side of the screen began to try and negotiate, Missy just stared coldly at them - a little too cold for the Doctor’s liking, but then she was always good at playing a role. He just wished he knew how far she would actually take it. Ultimately he had to have faith that she would know when to stop.

“Hang him,” she said, turning to face the Doctor. 

He glared at her, but continued to play his role, placing the guard on the small but meticulously built miniature gallows and holding him in a standing position. Missy reached down and flicked the noose with her finger, making it swing back and forth in front of him.

“You have fifteen minutes,” he said.

Missy wanted to laugh because she had told him to say five - he really was uncomfortable, she wished he would just roll with it and enjoy being part of the show. Have some fun. Stop letting his pesky morals get in the way of a good time.

They shut off the camera and she turned to face the others, “good work team, but Doctor, try to immerse into the role a little more - you just gave them extra time, that means ten minutes more to think and plan or review the footage to see what we really are. I’m making Nardole your understudy - if you have another...wobble, you are switching parts!”

“Oh, a promotion!” Nardole said proudly.

“Let’s focus, we have to this in front of a live audience this time,” Missy said.

“I was in a school play a bit like this once,” Bill said. “Well, a lot less demonic looking, and no chanting or shrinking people...but there were some great costumes.”

Missy looked at her in disgust, “this is not a school play! This is performance art! I pride myself on the highest quality of my performances!”

“Sorry,” Bill said sheepishly. 

“If this starts to look even remotely evil though, we should probably stop,” Nardole said.

“Yes, and we will,” the Doctor said, throwing Missy a look that made it clear he would stop her if she took it too far.

Missy rolled her eyes and smirked, before turning her attention to the security cameras, “ooh...look at that, it's showtime!”

It felt less like a school play to Bill once they had a live audience - the ruler and two aides standing before them looking really quite unnerved. She had no idea what the various devices Missy had dotted around the room did, but she hoped she could stay in character and not mess up. 

“Your people invaded this world, a world under the protection of my fiercely loyal followers. I will give you time to leave and return this world to its original leaders, but not before giving you a demonstration of our power, so you will never again return here!”

Missy watched the terror in their faces as the Doctor stepped forward and solemnly placed the two bound and now gagged, shrunken guards on the ground in front of the rulers. 

The guards did a great job of thrashing about and squirming around on the ground, really adding to the scene quite nicely. Missy was pleased with their efforts to escape, it really helped her authenticity.

She pulled out her hair pin as she discreetly spun around, activating the device in her pocket, and ordering Bill and Nardole to begin the sacred incantation. Slipping her TCE into the palm of her hand, she held her hands out directly in front of her and stared with a murderous glare at the ruler.

“And now the same fate will befall you - A CURSE ON THE INVADERS OF THIS WORLD!”

The room filled with billowing pillars of smoke, framing them all perfectly, as a green hazy mist, harmless but eerie looking honed in on the invaders. 

Nardole felt really quite impressed with her performance, she was more scary than he had ever seen her but she really did look convincing. 

She thrust her hands forward and discreetly activated the TCE in the palm of her hand, unable to hide her delight as the ruler quickly shrunk in perfect synchronisation with a loud crackling noise, ending in a bang in front of her.  She couldn’t deny the rush of adrenaline that using her device gave her. It felt good to go back to her roots sometimes, and shrinking people was quite addictive if she were honest.

The aides turned and ran, and a glance at the monitor saw that the rest of the invading force had already evacuated. 

The Doctor turned to Missy, he could see the thrill of her plan unfolding and the rush of adrenaline coursing through her. He needed her to do the right thing at the end, to not get lost in the process of what she was doing.

He scooped up the invader with the guards and turned to Missy. 

Missy found it absolutely hilarious that the Doctor was looking at her with his arms filled with wriggling shrunken people. The Doctor, was less impressed.

“Missy, this is serious, we have to un-shrink these people,” he said.

“Oh really? Do we absolutely have to do?” she asked, disappointed.

“Yes!” he exclaimed.

Missy just couldn’t take him seriously with his arm full of animated dolls when one of them promptly bit his arm and he swore in Gallifreyan at it.

Laughing, she said, “ok then spoilsport, good job we can watch the finale on the monitor I rigged up.”

She grabbed a rope from her pocket, flipping it out and twirling it around, until she formed a lasso. “Put them down right in front of you Doctor, then step back,” she said as she casually turned around and tossed it over her shoulder.

Spinning back she appeared absolutely delighted that she had caught all three shrunken people perfectly in the lasso which tightened instantly around them. She jumped on the spot and clapped, delighted with herself, “I win!” 

Bill almost wished she had some kind of prize to give her and it occurred to her that Missy was probably really good at those funfair games that cost one pound a go and were impossible to win. 

Missy aimed her TCE and fired, and then looked at the Doctor.

“Thirty minutes max till they start to grow, will you do the honours dearest, and activate my clever little lasso teleport? she said.

The Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver and activated the rope, the people instantly teleporting away. 

Missy moved straight to an empty desk and sat down, lounging back in her chair as she arranged her robes around her, “thirty minutes until we can watch their clan see them growing before their eyes, this part will be hilarious - anyone got any popcorn?”

“No Missy, good people don't find the terror of others hilarious,” the Doctor said.

“Oh really?” she said, sounding disappointed. 

“ _Really_ \- although we should watch to make sure there's no problem with the TCE reversal, so we should hang around - don't you need to collect your devices?” he asked Missy.

“No, no, they will all vaporise themselves in 45 minutes, saves me tidying up. I don’t generally hang around at the end - this time of course is an exception as the funniest part is yet to come…” she paused as she noticed the Doctor glaring at her.

“The most  _important part_ I mean of course..to check the people grow back _safely_ , no _harm_ done...blow them a kiss and all that.”

Finally, after Missy went into her TARDIS for an unacceptably long time, unnerving them all that she was going to just take off, she emerged with the biggest tub of popcorn Bill had ever seen. The Doctor glared at her for not understanding that they were observing to make sure her reversal process worked, not to enjoy the show, but despite himself, he reached for the popcorn, his hand bumping into Missy’s repeatedly as they seemed to end up fighting for the same pieces of popcorn each and every time.

Back on the TARDIS, when the Doctor had finally convinced Missy to hand over the device she used to call her TARDIS, and temporarily gave her access to his controls so she could help to secure her TARDIS inside his. (He could have done it himself, but she could do it a lot faster and he hoped she would take the gesture of giving her access to his TARDIS controls, even temporarily as a sign of his trust in her.) They finally materialised back outside the vault. 

Bill wondered if it bothered Missy to go back there when she had been out undoubtedly having fun. She felt sorry for her on one level but wasn't sure that her sentimentality for Missy’s situation was appropriate. Missy certainly didn't seem affected by it in the slightest but she imagined that she had to be. She realised she had a lot to learn about Missy, and the Doctor too if she thought about it. Time Lord’s were fascinating and frightening. 

The Doctor had materialised directly outside the vault, and Missy lounged casually, her back against the wall, as the Doctor operated the procedure to open the door. She exaggeratedly looked away, making a big show of not watching him, and couldn't resist offering him some pointers on how to open the door faster, causing Nardole to tense in worry.

Finally once the door opened, and Missy congratulated the Doctor on completing what she said was quite a tricky puzzle, she stepped into the vault, turning to face them with a smile.

“Well done everyone for putting on a fabulous show, would you care to come into my home for a little after show party?”

Bill stepped forward and Nardole cast her a cautious glance, then turned to the Doctor to take his cue.

“Well, I have some lovely well matured wine I could crack open - just this once,” the Doctor said.

“Lovely,” she said  as she clasped her hands together. “You all come in and find a seat... _not my piano stool if you want to come out of here alive_ , and i’ll go fetch the canapes!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed that, I think that Missy must enjoy the preparation phases of her plans, certainly the Master always has enjoyed disguises, and theatrics has been a constant, so I wanted to do sort of pre show buzz vibe, and watch them all having a bit of fun together. 
> 
> I have two works in progress, both 5-ish chapters. One is quite dark and heavy in places and the other a lighter multi master story with a lot of plans and plots. I may post them together so the darker one has something to lighten the mood after!


End file.
